The use of dispensers for dispensing solutions of various types is now widely known. Various soaps, antimicrobial solutions, cleaners and the like are now routinely provided in bottles having hand operated displacement pumps associated therewith and particularly adapted and configured to dispense the solution within the bottle into the defined area in which a user's hand is placed. Many solutions that are dispensed from such bottles are of sufficiently thin viscosity and consistency that the orifice through which they are dispensed typically remains clear and unobstructed from one dispensing operation to the next. Accordingly, the flow of the dispensed solution is typically predictable and consistent, and not given to misdirection that might cause the solution to hit something other than its intended target.
Presently, many antimicrobial solutions are alcohol based and include a polymeric thickener such as a carbomer, increasing the viscosity of the solution into a gelatious fluid. After a dispensing operation, the residual of the solution that remains at the dispensing orifice often coagulates or tends to harden because of the presence of the polymeric thickener and the evaporation of the water and alcohol components of the solution. When this happens, the output orifice of the dispenser clogs to some degree, changing the orifice geometry, defining a deflection area at the orifice, and generally changing the projection of solution emitted therefrom. As a consequence, the dispensing of such solutions from a standard dispenser nozzle often result in misdirection of the dispensed material.
Moreover, because the prior art dispensing orifices have typically been vertically oriented, any resultant misdirection of the solution could cause the solution to be dispensed upon the user's clothing, face, or other body parts, rather than the hand, as intended. The results are simply unsatisfactory. Misdirection of solution that reaches other than the user's hand is certainly not appreciated by the user. Moreover, in previously known dispensers, the actual clog or coagulated material has a displeasing appearance, inconsistent with the cleanliness and sanitation intended by the solution itself.
There is a need in the art for a pump head for use with a displacement pump and a bottle dispenser, that may be used with solutions having a tendency to clog or coagulate in the dispensing nozzle, that is configured such as to control or limit any misdirection of dispensing resulting from the coagulation. There is also a need in the art for such a pump head that minimizes the size of any clog or coagulated solution to provide for aesthetic acceptability. There is still a further need in the art for such a pump head for use with a displacement pump in a bottle dispenser that is simple in construction, cost effective in implementation, and readily adapted for use with presently existing bottle dispensers.